Hells yeah… the Anti-Preview rises from the ashes of a long and old offseason to provide us the guide for the annual Blue-Gold Game for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Like an old friend showing up at your house at 3 AM with a good bottle of Scotch, waking up your wife and kids, and staying until you have pissed all over your brand new area rug that tied the whole room together- the Anti-Preview is a necessary evil.
This year there is a long list of walking wounded, and a certain stud is suspended. Put that all together, and you have a recipe for disaster on one single play. It’s because of that, that the rules for this years game, along with who will be playing for how many plays is a big part of what we will see.
Unfortunately for perception, the game will be televised by Versus. The crowd at the game, and a national TV audience will see a whole lot of Notre Dame’s backups- including a handful of walk-ons.
Oh well… the show must go on.
Blue VS. Gold. I have to be honest here. I don’t know too many details about what the “rosters” will look like for the game. The few things that I do know, are that the offensive lineman will wear green jerseys and they will go both ways for the Blue and the Gold offense. Everett Golson and Andrew Hendrix will be on opposite teams, and both will receive about 75% of the action.
Add that to guys like Manti Te’o and Chris Watt sitting out to avoid further injury, and you have the makings of what could be a very sloppy game that will really give us almost no insight into 2011. (That may be a bit of an overstatement, but you get my point).
What should you be drinking? It’s springtime, and one of the symbols of spring is the noble, duck. So, The Alaskan Duck Fart is a perfect fit with its Irish undertones and what not.
- Jameson
- Bailey’s
- Kahlua
Basically, you could throw all three ingredients together in equal parts and drink yourself stupid, or you could create a layered shot. The following video shows you this, but it also show what a tremendous douche the host is as well. A total fucking nerd that doesn’t like whiskey. Oh really…
What should you be eating? With the cold and rain more than probable for the BG game, an old classic with Irish roots will be the only acceptable food to eat… Beef & Guinness Stew:
- 2 pounds stewing beef
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch of cayenne
- 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree, dissolved in 4 tablespoons water
- 1 1/4 cups Guinness
- 2 cups largely diced carrots
- Sprig of fresh thyme
- Chopped parsley, for garnish
Trim the meat of any fat or gristle, and cut into 2-inch cubes. Toss beef with 1 tablespoon of the oil. In a small bowl, season the flour with salt, pepper and cayenne. Toss meat with seasoned flour. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over high heat. Brown the meat on all sides. Reduce the heat, add the onions, crushed garlic and tomato puree to the skillet, cover, and cook gently for 5 minutes. Transfer the contents of the skillet to a casserole and pour half of the Guinness into the skillet. Bring Guinness to a boil and stir to dissolve the caramelized meat juices on the pan. Pour over the meat, along with the remaining Guinness. Add the carrots and thyme. Stir and adjust seasonings. Cover the casserole and simmer over low heat, or in a 300 degree F oven until the meat is tender, 2 to 3 hours. Garnish the beef with parsley and serve.
And just in case the Duck Fart turns out shitty, you could always just use the Guinness for some Irish Carbombs. 
Irish Stew. Aren’t we eating that already? HAHAHAHAHA. You’re all very funny- dicks. You should know by now that this is the part where I have something “potpourri” like for everyone.
This time around, we be talkin’ fashion. More specifically, THE SHIRT. It’s been awful quiet this year, as far as the rumors and the speculation is concerned. The SHIRT will be unveiled on Friday, and I have this small bit of advice: At first glance, if it looks like a piece of shit- IT IS! Don’t be fooled by swarms of people buying the thing. This is the “sheep mentality” of the Notre Dame fanbase showing its ugly, ugly face.
Now, if you genuinely like it, and aren’t strong-armed by thewill of the herd; by all means, buy it. But if looks like ANYTHING that resembles the following photo… RUN! Get the fuck out of there!!!
What’s in a name? Plenty. Usually this category is reserved for the opposing teams roster, but I had to include it to celebrate a name that will be known more and more over the next few years: PRINCE SHEMBO.
There really isn’t much more to say about the royal name of Shembo, other than I’m jealous that my parents didn’t think of naming after a basketball playing, pancake eating pop star.
KGG’s Slant: Boom goes the dynamite…
With the annual Blue-Gold game right around the corner, it’s finally time for some Irish football. It couldn’t come at a better time for me personally. With March madness being over and my longstanding hatred of the NBA, I’m forced to get my sports fix on English soccer games, NASCAR races and early season baseball games. Im in desperate need of some college football. This spring game brings plenty of questions to a head and hopefully a lot of answers. Here are a couple of position battles and story lines that I am particularly interested in seeing this Saturday.
Offensively for the Irish Im looking forward to seeing the younger players getting a chance to shine and the evolution of this offense. With year two in the Kelly spread, I thought we were going to see the beginning of the craziness that is this spread-offense. That’s partially my ignorance of the Kelly spread not being an air-raide type offense but also because I thought we would have Dayne Crist fine tuned by now throwing bombs to Michael Floyd. What we really have is a coach that has looked at his talent and said that he needs to make a change. Kelly emphasized the run a lot more down the stretch and into this spring. With a talent like Cierre Wood in the backfield and a heavy dose of Riddick carrying the ball as well, the Irish really have some talented runners on this squad. I want to see what the offense can do using the spread to run the ball and we should see a a lot of that on Saturday. With this being an exhibition game and Dayne Crist fresh off his annual Halloween injury, Kelly has said that Golson and Hendrix will get a majority of the snaps. Kelly has spoken about how he has particular packages for each of his 4 QB’s, and you can expect that the package set for Hendrix and Golson are heavily geared towards the run. Golson should get a chance to show his magic feet and Hendrix a chance to show his rocket arm. Kelly also mentioned that Wood and Gray wont play much this game, so handing off to a walk-on or keeping the ball themselves will be the theme of the day for the QB’s. The evolution of the offense from year one to year two, might not be as drastic as I thought it was going to be but we should see some changes in how its run. We wont see the whole package this Saturday, but it will still be fun to watch.
Offensively for the Irish, it will be hard not to watch the WR group extremely close. Without St. Michael on the field, who is going to step up and fill the gap. Based of last years workload, we could see Goodman, Riddick and Jones as the starting 3 WR’s and Eifert at TE. Eifert has recently gotten work at WR (Don’t expect him to lineup outside all the time, but possibly in the red zone) because of the depth the Irish have at TE. Mike Ragone Alex Welch, Jake Golic and even incoming freshman Ben Koyack definitely make ND Tight end U. It will be interesting to see which WR wants to step up and take charge in Floyd’s absence. Will any particular receiver cement his name on the depth chart after this game? TJ Jones needs to continue his progression along with Robby Toma and Daniel Smith and John Goodman need to solidify the outside receiver spot. Kelly has said this spring game will be about building depth and the wide receiver position is as fluid as ever.
Defensively for the Irish we should expect a dominating game. Yes the Irish are missing the likes of Manti Te’o for this game, but look for the defense to have their day in the sun. With the likes of 8 returning starters on defense going up against QB’s with little to no experience, the defense should have the advantage. Again, it will be interesting to see what young guys step up. Names like Prince Shembo and Danny Spond have been thrown around all spring. Now we get to see them in live action and what they really can do. The key position for me will be that linebacker battle. Ethan Johnson and KLM seem to have solidified themselves on the line with the likes of a Louis Nix or Sean Cwynar, but the LB positions still holds a bit of drama. With inside backers Te’o and McDonald missing the game, guys like Shembo, Utupo and Calabrese should get a chance to shine. Also of note will be the depth in the secondary. With Blanton and Gray locking down the corners, there isn’t much depth behind them. Lo Wood and freshly moved Bennett Jackson look to showcase their skills as the next-man-in. Which player will step up and stake a claim to that spot?
Offensive MVP: Overall don’t look to see anything crazy from this Irish practice game. Kelly wont tip his hand at all for the upcoming season, but it will be interesting to see what the Kelly offense looks like with a mobile quarterback. This team has a lot of talent on the roster but guys considered to have a 1 next to their name on the depth chart wont play a whole lot. With this game being on Versus, I’m looking forward to seeing an Irish game this weekend and we should all be grateful for that. Find a specific matchup that you want to watch or a key position battle and key in on that. That’s about all we can do with a game like this. After all, the best part about Irish spring games is that the Irish are guaranteed a victory. Lets just hope no one gets hurt.
Offensive MVP: Everett Golson. With Brian Kelly stating that Hendrix and Golson will both be getting a vast majority of the snaps, the MVP race will most likely come down to one of the two quarterbacks. I’m going with Golson- only because it will create a bigger bullshit story in 2011 and 2012- where both seasons should have Crist and Rees on the roster.
If you need a bit more background info on Golson, check out this lengthy highlight tape from his high school days- if only to enjoy the soundtrack:
Defensive MVP: Carlo Calabrese. The defense will be playing a very vanilla set, so expect the linebackers to be waiting for any run, and in the path of balls thrown short over the middle. This plays into the hands of the hard-hitting Calabrese, and depending upon the number of reps he gets, he might just lead the team in tackles.
Since we’re throwing videos around like cocaine at a stripper convention, here is one of Calabrese that just screams, “IT LOOKS LIKE YOU LOST YOUR BONNET BABY!!!!!!”
Something else to watch: The crowd. Although I am pleased as a pig is while rolling in his own shit that Versus is broadcasting the game- I am worried that the crowd will be under the normal 30,000 (which is still too low). The weather will be a factor, and i would guess that we may only have an attendance of around 23,000. The stadium is going to look like a ghost town if that’s the case.
I would scold all of you that are going, but then I would be a hypocrite for not going as well. Still though….
At the end of the day. Brian Kelly is the winner (with the hope that everyone stays healthy). He is creating a “development type atmosphere” with the way he does EVERYTHING. This game stands as a reflection of that. He’s not worried about anything, other than getting his entire team ready for the season. TV cameras and small crowds be damned. He’s doing it his way, and it’s the way of the future for the Irish.
I’m in Coach!
