This Weekend’s Number One Timely Inter-Sport Metaphor

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I was listening to Westwood One’s radio coverage of the Super Bowl with Boomer Esiason doing the color analysis. Nick Collins intercepted a pass from Ben Roethlisberger and returned it for a touchdown, which prompted Boomer to describe Collins’s role on the play as “playing a deep center field . . . like Bernie Williams.”

Like Bernie Williams? The former Yankees outfielder who retired in 2006?

Not Curtis Granderson or Brett Gardner who would play center for the current Yankees. Or Milwaukee Brewers center fielders Carlos Gomez or Mike Cameron or Marquis Grissom or Scott Podsednik or Hall of Famer Robin Yount or Gorman Thomas. Or Andrew McCutchen or Andy Van Slyke or a Pirates outfielder past or present. Or even Josh Hamilton or another outfielder from the Texas Rangers who play in the same city that the Super Bowl was played in.

Nope, Boomer went for the timely, relevant Bernie Williams.

One more thing, on a more serious note… I’ve often heard a safety playing deep in the middle of the field described by commentators as playing “center field.” Is there no football term to describe this? Football has a complete language around it, but for a deep safety they go to a baseball term?

Your Five Step Guide to Wisdom Teeth Extraction Recovery

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1) Have top player from alma mater decide to return for senior season. Watch highlight reel repeatedly.

2) Watch old movies that you have missed but you won’t mind seeing in a state of pain. I suggest American Graffiti and In Like Flint.

3) Ice cream.

4) Get great, short-run TV series that you’ve seen before. Watch all of it. I suggest Freaks and Geeks (don’t forget this part).

5) Vicodin.

Redemption

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In 2007, Duval Kamara was recruited to play football at Notre Dame. Coming out of Hoboken, New Jersey, he was rated a four-star wide receiver. As a freshman he caught 32 passes, the second most on the team, scoring 4 touchdowns. Between his reputation coming out of high school and and promising freshman year, expectations for the rest of his career were high. Unfortunately, due to a combination of not being utilized correctly, the emergence of other options at wide receiver, and general ineffectiveness, Kamara’s career at Notre Dame was often seen as a disappointment.

In 2007, Robert Hughes was recruited to play football at Notre Dame. Coming out of Chicago, Illinois, he was rated a four-star running back. As a freshman he rushed 53 times for 305 yards for a 5.5 average, best on the team, scoring 4 touchdowns. Between his reputation coming out of high school and and promising freshman year, expectations for the rest of his career were high. Unfortunately, due to a combination of not being utilized correctly, the emergence of other options at running back, and general ineffectiveness, Hughes’s career at Notre Dame was often seen as a disappointment.

On November 1, 2010, the Notre Dame football team had a record of 4-5 following back-to-back losses to Navy and Tulsa. With games against top-25 opponents Utah and USC sandwiched around Army, who runs the same offense that Navy used to blow out the Irish, Notre Dame was staring at a second straight bowl-less season.

Hosting Utah on Senior Day at Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish dominated the Utes, with Duval Kamara catching two touchdown passes to put the game out of reach.

Playing Army at Yankee Stadium, the Irish dominated the Black Knights, with Robert Hughes running nine times for 39 yards, including the go ahead touchdown.

And last night, visiting the Los Angeles Coliseum, with 10 seconds left in the first half Notre Dame stood at USC’s 1-yard line. The pass went to Duval Kamara, who reached the ball across the goal line before being pushed out of bounds. With 6:18 left, Notre Dame received a USC kickoff down 16-13. On the ensuing drive, Robert Hughes ran four times, for 6-, 12-, 12-, and 5-yards, the final carry driving into the end zone, putting the Irish ahead for good.

Make no mistake, a 7-5 record is not good enough. But that doesn’t make a 3-0 November, ending the USC streak, and the redemption of the 2007 recruiting class any less sweet.