Tommy Rees may well be Fighting Irish starting quarterback in September

Tommy Rees 

Don’t be surprised if its Tommy Rees lines up as quarterback in Dublin on September 1st when Notre Dame begins their new season.

Sure, Rees is projected as low as number three on some lists behind Everett Golson and Andrew Hendrix but as game time approaches, Brian Kelly may decide to go with the devil he knows.

Rees gets a bum rap for his poor junior season when so much went wrong for the team in general.

He had an outstanding freshman year and surely deserves the opportunity to prove himself once again.
Rees certainly has a lot to prove.

His off-season antics were no more than a young man’s folly however, and trying to punish him for those makes no sense whatsoever.

Everett Golson is very much the home crowd Messiah at this point but he is largely unproven.

Sure, he fits into Kelly’s type of spread offense but he has yet to play a real game under pressure.

Rees has certainly done that, including leading Notre Dame to a bowl victory two seasons ago.

That’s is why despite all the bad mouthing, Rees may well be the safe pair of hands to line up behind center when the teams kick off in Dublin on Labor Day weekend.

Brian Kelly has a reputation as a gambler but he knows this season and his future will depend on his signal caller.

All the more reason why Rees would be the safest choice. If he can limit the interceptions he can go on to be the comeback kid.

Sadly, you’ll always beat the Irish at soccer these days -- Lack of Diaspora players for Ireland signals the end of an era

Irish fans react to Ireland's 2-0 loss against Italy

It makes very grim readings. Ireland played three games in the European Nations Championship and lost three.

They were first to go out of the tournament, on their way home when the real games were just beginning.
Worse they conceded nine goals and scored just one.

They were outplayed, out coached, out thought in every facet of the game.

The only winners were their 30,000 supporters who charmed everyone they met and stayed faithful to the end.

Their team were the Toledo Mud Hens against the New York Yankees, the Carolina Gophers against the Boston Celtics, the ..well never mind you get the point

They were expected to have a tough time in their group with World Champions Spain, perennial contenders Italy, and up and coming Croatia.

But losing by such huge margins?

That was hardly expected.

After all they had qualified in a tough group, almost matched the Russians who won their qualifying group and had been unbeaten in 15 games before the Polish caper.

But that was the minor league and when they stepped up into the majors they completely collapsed.
There were several reasons:

They no longer are able to claim most of the talented second generation Irish from England and Scotland they used to have, players like  Ray Hougton and Tony Cascarino were the cream of the old team that regularly qualified for World Cups

British soccer authorities have gotten wise to the Irish poaching and make sure their young players are given international exposure and kept away from the Irish marauders.

The result is a lot of mediocre Irish-born players make the team.

Secondly, because of the massive foreign presence in the English premiership, this Irish team did not have one quality player from the top levels of that league, no one from Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City.

In the old days, players like Roy Keane and Paul McGrath were from the very upper echelons and performed like that.

Thirdly, Coach Giovanni Trapattoni is too old and set in his ways. Defensive football, allowing teams like Spain to play the game in your half, is a crazy tactic.

He deliberately insulted the skills of this Irish side by a negative at all costs attitude.

Many on this team remember,  played on an Irish side that lost to France narrowly and unfairly in a World Cup play off qualifier two years ago.

In that play-off game an attacking Irish side almost snatched a famous victory.

But Trap and attack bear no relationship to each other.

Rumors and stories have spread that the Irish players defied the manager to play like that back then.
It is a young man’s game , at the coaching level as well.

What Ireland needs is a new manager, an infusion of young talent and a commitment to the beautiful game more than kicking endless long balls up the field and hoping for the best.

And a bunch of English Irish kids ready to play for the old country.

I won’t hold my breath.

Graeme McDowell just misses playoff in US Open final round -- Northern Irishman, Padraig Harrington both came close

Graeme McDowell

In the end Graeme McDowell just missed a playoff for the US Open championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

It was a remarkable performance by McDowell, whose final hole 24 foot putt missed left to bring about a play-off against ultimate winner Webb Simpson.

Several times during the final round McDowell looked like he would fall out of contention but somehow kept in touch and gave himself a chance at a playoff after a gutsy birdie on the 17th.

He stood on the final tee knowing a birdie would get him a play off but his final putt came up short.

By coming so close again however, McDowell proved that his 2010 win also in California in the US Open was no fluke and he is a huge force to be reckoned with on a difficult golf course.

His performance overshadowed a fine tournament for Padraig Harrington who finished only two shots behind and raised hopes that at last he might be able to compete for his fourth major tournament again.

Last year it looked like the old order would be swept away when Rory McIlroy galloped to victory in the same major.

However, the Northern Ireland teen has been plagued by inconsistency since and tabloid allegations he is spending too much time with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki.

Graeme McDowell says he's proud Irish and Protestant

Graeme McDowell has addressed the issue of whether he is Irish or British, which has become a big talking point after his U.S. Open victory.

Here is what he said a few days ago.

(If you are more confused than ever join the club.)

"Mum's a Catholic, Dad's a Protestant, I was brought up Presbyterian but ... I'm Irish.

"Yes, I sit on the fence but why not? There's no right or wrong answer. I'm always going to upset someone, so why not sit on the fence?" he is quoted as saying on CBS sports.

Fair answer but it is a story that bedevils every Northern Ireland sportsman and even some from the south.

Barry McGuigan was as Irish as could be from Monaghan in the Irish Republic but hilariously often appeared at fights with a United Nation flag.

McDowell's Northern Irish teammate Rory McIlroy was born a Catholic but carries a British passport.

And so it goes.

McDowell is just the latest to have to negotiate those choppy waters of identity and background.

I wish him luck.

To those who say it doesn't matter just consider the 30 year war recently concluded in Northern Ireland. Idenity was at the heart of it.

So McDowell is doing the right thing.

Originally published in 2010.

Giovanni Trapattoni has to go as Irish soccer manager -- Dreadful display against Spain in European Championship is the last straw

Giovanni Trapattoni and the Republic of Ireland team

Read more: Ireland's European Championship dream annihilated at the hands of Spain

Giovanni Trapattoni led the Irish soccer team into the Valley of Death at these European Championships and now needs to fall on his own sword.

At 73 the quiet places beckon for the Italian who did a decent job getting Ireland to the European finals but has completely lost the plot now.

To say Ireland were unimaginative, lacking in creativity, defensive, boring and pure shite is the truth of the matter.

Trapattoni is on record as saying if you want creativity go to La Scala or Madison Square Garden.
Well if you want mediocrity leave Trap in charge of your team.

He has coached all creativity out of these players, left them the worst side at these European finals.
A few years back things seemed different. He created a good side that almost beat France in Paris to advance to the World Cup.

On that night it was a very good and killed and creative Irish side.

Indeed, we only saw one glimpse of that when they fell behind to Croatia and came powering back to one all playing good football.

The minute they equalized they fell back on the old defensive ways however and were hockeyed.
The Spanish game was embarrassing.

Okay, they are world champions but they still could have been challenged far more effectively by a team that gave some semblance of an attacking threat rather than played like entering the opponent’s half was a crime.

Ireland needs a new start for the upcoming world cup qualifying.

Trapattoni must go.

Read more: Ireland's European Championship dream annihilated at the hands of Spain

Dullahan to win Belmont in absence of I’ll Have Another -- Connections get luck of the Irish with favorite’s defection

Dullahan to win Belmont

The defection of I’ll Have Another is a real body blow to racing and to the millions of fans who were looking forward to a Triple Crown winner after 35 years.

It will be Hamlet without the prince at Belmont tomorrow, but it will still be a helluva race, thrown wide open by the absence of the Triple Crown pretender.

Dullahan, named after a Celtic god of Mythology and owned by Jerry Crawford of Donegal Stables, will be the favorite at 9/5 or so.

He worked in a very impressive manner earlier this week and finished like a train in the Kentucky Derby, so the mile and a half distance should suit him.

The knock against Dullahan is that he is really a turf horse, or a polytrack horse, and is far more effective on those surfaces than dirt. His best race ever was in the Bleu Grass stakes over the polytrack in Keeneland, so there are still questions about him on dirt.

Paynter is trained by Bob Baffert, so that automatically makes him a contender. He has early speed which will see him prominent early on and there are no better speed riders than Mike Smith, who has a clock in his head and is very familiar with Belmont from his years riding there.

The other big contender is Union Rags from the Michael Matz stable, aka known as Barbaro’s trainer. He was the winter favorite for the Derby after a massive two-year-old year, but has disappointed this year badly with poor breaks in both the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby costing him any chance.

Under new jockey John Velazquez, he should certainly get out of the gate, and if he runs back to his two-year-old form, he will run them very close.

My selection is Dullahan because of that amazing 45 and change workout over the Belmont strip earlier this week. His class and closing kick should give him the victory given that Paynter and a few others will set a contested pace.

Dullahan, followed by Paynter and Union Rags, with the inexperienced but talented outsider Unstoppable U to complete the superfecta, are my choices.

Kevin Kilbane described how Giovanni Trapattoni cold-bloodedly ended his international career

Giovanni Trapattoni

Despite being capped over 100 times for Ireland, Kevin Kilbane was let go from the squad in a 30 second phone call by Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

Kilbane recalled his surprise this weekend in the Daily Mail after Wolves player Kevin Foley was deeply angry at similar treatment from Trap.

“Giovanni Trapattoni ended my Republic of Ireland career with a 30-second phone-call. And when he called Kevin Foley into the room to end his Euro 2012 dream, it will have taken just as long.
And he will not have expected all the fuss and furor," Kilbane wrote.

‘For him, it was a purely football decision and one that was best for the team and Ireland and the reason why he is paid the money he is paid.

I was fit for the play-off games against Estonia in November, although I must admit I would have been struggling.

But I was available for selection when Giovanni named his team.

Then I got a call from the manager that week. It lasted 30 seconds.

He came across as quite cold and methodical and the language barrier doesn't help because he got to the point and had nothing else to add.

He just said I am not considering you for the play-offs and that was it.

And that is Giovanni.

He has no favorites, nobody he would see as special. It wouldn't mean anything to him how experienced you are, how many caps you have, the whole consecutive games thing.

I was a player and a commodity and if I am not available to him, not in his thoughts, I am no use to him.
I didn't expect to be treated any differently, and I really mean that, but it did feel heartless at the time and it did hurt. But that's him and that's his way of dealing with players.
It is his job."