And we shall call him "The Corduroy Kid"

So here's our most recent news out of Red's Country.

I'm glad to see that we're making the requisite moves to back up the recent "win now" attitude that the Baker hiring represents. I'm worried, though, because this contract is so similar to the deal that Milton received right before his career went in the crap-tin. Also, this is a guy whose career ERA has been all over the map depending on the year.

Basically, we bought the guy for five years, just shy of 50 million dollars. He'll be 36 at the end of the contract, 37 if we pick up the option. Is that money well spent? Seems like a lot to me, and it feels like the fact that the Brewers and the Astros were the other two teams in that horserace drove the price higher than it would otherwise have gone.

I'm going to vote on the positive side, however, and say we get our money's worth. Sound off.

If You Have a Free Weekend in November...

Contributors Dav and Hankles recently completed the first official field trip for The Norwood House. Let’s break down the trip, by the numbers:

46: Pictures taken by TNH’s photographer

1/3: Fraction of flyers on our flight enroute to Dallas for the Skins-Boys game dressed in jerseys, performing cheers at 7:00am.

80: Number of sent and received texts by Hankles

4: Tollbooths on the Indy Turnpike

75: Minutes spent in the ND Bookstore

1987: Jimmy Clausen's Birth Year

3-0: Final Score of the Notre Dame-Loyola Women’s NCAA Soccer Game

$5: Price for a Pitcher at Corby’s Irish Pub

2-0: Dav’s record over Hankles on the Felt at Corby’s

10: Miller Lites

4: Old Styles

10: Size (in ounces) of the sirloin steak sandwich sold by the Knights of Columbus

43: Temperature at Kickoff

38: Temperature at Final Whistle

5: Hankles' Lower Body Layers

6: Hankles' Upper Body Layers

11: Times hearing the Notre Dame Victory March (approx.)

80,975: Attendance at the Stadium

1: Wabash Knit Caps

115: Robert Hughes Rushing Yards

3: Irish Passing TD’s

3: Duke Fumbles

28-7: Final Score

5: Time Changes by TNH crew (East to Central to East to Central to East)

4: Wrong Turns leading to Poor Directions and Being Lost

3: Real Celebrity Sightings (Mike Scioscia, Mike Golic, Tim Hardaway)

2: Celebrity Dead-Ringers (Curt Schilling; Dusty Baker)

2: Irish football season wins

1: Touchdown Jesus

Countless: Memories shared between great buddies

South Bend Pictures

Please visit this flickr page using your Yahoo! address. The comments are glorious.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21040299@N03/

South Bend Videos

Buried in Baseball

Buried underneath the stacks of baseball headlines including Bonds's indictment and A-Rod resigning with the Bombers...is the story that Marty's booth partner and Kroger's favorite ad-man, Nuxy, has moved on to the diamond on the other side of Ray Kinsella's Iowa cornfield.

I think we should all take a moment and I defer to the baseball geniuses (geniui for the Latin fans) of TNH staff to share any statistics/anecdotes about our slurring broadcaster. If nothing else, we should all raise a glass to "Ol' Lefty" this weekend.

Another raise of the glass and safe travels to TNH staff's first satellite coverage this weekend in South Bend. Have a good time guys!

The Lady Bing

We had just been in the car for 7 hours, all we wanted to do was stretch our legs and get good nights sleep before we continued on our journey. We pull up to a mansion of literary proportions in the heart of Buckhead (Atlanta), there was all the food, and drinks we could take, a big TV, a pool, a great host and it was all free. And what was the first thing the members of summer Sojourn 3 did? Ask about where the best sports bar was so we could watch the NHL and NBA playoffs.

What happened?

That would never happen now, I honestly need to search to remember who won Lord Stanley’s Cup and I used to be able to recite the winners of the Hart, and Lady Bing on command.

I specifically remember sitting inside on a beautiful Florida day to watch the Avalanche vs. the Red Wings or the Lakers and Pistons.

This past year I watched exactly 2 periods of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and only a few of the many games of the NBA Playoffs. And I know I am not alone.

What happened, why have basketball and Hockey become so uninteresting? Basketball is fun to talk about, but nobody watches it with any regularity, and Hockey is an afterthought. Now I know Hockey kind of screwed itself, but even before the lockout it had lost its late 90’s luster. And the NBA hasn’t been watchable since Kobe and Shaq were friends, and it hasn’t been enjoyable since Scotty Pippen dished out the greatest trash talk of all time (“the mailman doesn’t deliver on Sundays”).

So my question is, why? Why have these two formally great sports become 2nd tier after Football and Baseball and NASCAR (as much as it pains me to say it)

Boston Tea Party

I know its early in the basketball season, and we're still a long way away from the Superbowl...but might we be witnessing a year in which Boston runs the table by winning the World Series, the Superbowl and the NBA Championship in the same season? I don't even know how the Bruins are doing...but maybe that's a possibility as well.

Has that happened before?