All they wanted was a chance for ten more days of football. Just before the end of the season, a quarter of the players and one of the coaches on the Xavier High School Knights had been forced from their homes when Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast. But when the displaced kids voted to play on, their courage inspired the team to go on to an improbable playoff rumble … [Read more...] about True Grit – Sandy Fails to Derail the Xavier Knights’ Run for Glory
Sports Archives
Brian Kelly Is Coach of the Year
Coach Kelly, who led Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish through a perfect season (up until the BCS championship game), was named the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) on December 13. Kelly is the fourth Fighting Irish coach to win the award, following in the footsteps of Ara Parseghian (1964), Lou Holtz (1988) and Charlie Weis … [Read more...] about Brian Kelly Is Coach of the Year
The Irish Giants
The Hibernian legacy of the Giants baseball team. To appreciate the legacy of the San Francisco Giants we have to return to their New York beginnings and the ballplayers who made it all possible. The story begins in 1880 when a prosperous tobacco merchant, John B. Day, began to look at baseball as a good investment. With the support of his Tammany Hall associates, John B. and … [Read more...] about The Irish Giants
The Emerald Isle Classic: An Irish and Irish-American Dream
Irish America's publisher, Niall O'Dowd, wrote from the Notre Dame vs. Navy football game in Dublin. In years to come, hardcore Notre Dame fans will ask “Were you there?” when this Dublin game against Navy is discussed. I predict it will be right up there with many of the great moments of this storied college. What a day to be both Irish and American. If you were not proud of … [Read more...] about The Emerald Isle Classic: An Irish and Irish-American Dream
Golfing the Emerald Isle
Five days of golf in Ireland's southwest and a day of football in Dublin. I credit my brother-in-law Tom Coyne for inspiring my golf trip to Ireland. Not too long ago, Tom completed what can only be called THE ultimate Irish golf trip – a whole summer circumnavigating the entire country, on foot, with his clubs on his back, playing the legendary links courses as one continuous … [Read more...] about Golfing the Emerald Isle