Sporting Sensations

[Troubadour]

I'm sorry about the loss, Willie, but it sounds like your team had a great season. You should be proud!

[Freypower]

This will probably make you even less happy. One of the Alabama players is Australian.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/party-cu...109-2cgtj.html

[TimothyBFan]

Actually FP, I meant to mention that. They said something about it during the game.

And to add insult to injury, it was leaked last evening that our coach, Brian Kelly, interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles for the head coaching job. Lots of fans are feeling a bit blindsided and betrayed. In only a short 3 years, he gets the program to the very top only to turn around and obviously be considering leaving. Time will tell but this could get ugly.

[prayfordaylight]

I doubt he'll leave. A lot of coaches sadly interview with pro teams to leverage a raise where they're already coaching.

[Freypower]

Coaches/managers leave teams in soccer all the time so I would be surprised if it didn't happen in American football as well.

[TimothyBFan]

I hate to put this here but I'm sure many of you have already heard about it, it's all over the media and many of you have probably wondered what I'm thinking about it. I don't know how to answer that. It's just an amazing and disturbing story for sure. And as much as it pains me to say, I don't believe that Manti isn't involved beyond being just an innocent victim in it all. Call me cynical (I choose to call it being a realist) but a 3 year "relationship" and you had no idea it was a hoax? Not buying it.

Here's the original story that broke the news.

http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-te...ason-is-a-hoax

And here's just one of the stories about Manti's version of it.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/0...eo-notre-dame/

Regardless of what the truth is, it has certainly put a damper on a dream season for us Notre Dame fans. Add it to the horrible defeat in the championship game and it has really brought the high from the rest of the season to a very low point.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I read what you put on FB, TBF, and I'm not sure what to think. I hate to say it, but he's young enough to fall for a scam like that. I guess I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. There does seem to be the question of him saying he met her when he obviously didn't, however, he may have said that at the time because others were making fun of him (or something) for having an online relationship. At any rate, if he really was a victim of the scam my heart really goes out to him. If he knew all along, well, what comes around goes around.

At least he's young and can blame his stupidity on that. What we're about to hear from Lance Armstrong still breaks my heart.

[Brooke]

Don't even get me started on LA. He needs to just disappear. Why they would even contemplate the idea of him competing again is beyond me. Jerk.

[zeldabjr]

Brooke and VA...totally agree with your last posts!

[Troubadour]

I'm sorry, Willie. Whatever the truth is, I can understand your sadness and anger - you feel like you have been betrayed by your team/university, and that's horrible. I felt the same way when my rugby team, Harlequins, had a scandal dubbed 'Bloodgate'. (One of the players had a blood capsule in his mouth so that he could be substituted by another player - if he hadn't been 'injured', it wouldn't have been allowed and they probably would have lost the game.) It caused a big storm and, although the player came under fire, it emerged that he was just a pawn in the game - it was all about the coaches and managers wanting to win and, because the player was young, he did what he was told. I know it's not the same situation at all, but I do understand what it feels like when a team/charity/organisation you love does something immoral and appears less than desirable. I hope Notre Dame and the player involved can recover from this. It seems like a very strange story.