The winner of the contest is awarded the trophy with a new medallion to mark the victor. It was the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Los Angeles that created the award. Legend states that Howard Hughes’ pilot brought this Gaelic Warclub made of blackthorn oak, back from a trip in Ireland in 1952. The Jeweled Shillelagh is the hardware given to the winner of the annual contest between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the USC Trojans. (* This is an edited version of a previous entry *) Here is a refresher about the trophy itself. We’re all talking about the Jeweled Shillelagh this week as the 11-0 Notre Dame Fighting Irish get set to head out to California to take on their long and bitter rivals, the USC Trojans. I have always been put off that Notre Dame would almost always keep their trophies on some type of super secret double probation with the public, but with the arrival of Brian Kelly, they have found an extra emphasis and thus, they have helped deepen the meaning of the games in which they are played for by the Irish and their rivals. Call me a sentimental fool, or a naive fan - I don’t care, because I love the damn things. The 3:30 kickoff can't come soon enough.I love rivalry trophies. Win or Lose, I'll be at a pub bright & early tomorrow for a day full of guiness, and I can't wait. I don't know if the Irish will actually win this game, but all the pieces are in place, and they certainly have a better chance of doing so then any of the last three Irish teams, which have each lost by exactly 31 points. Come on, any team that plays with actual gold on their helmets has to be doing something right. These aren't his only weapons, but they are still more then any other team has thrown at the Trojans this year.Īnd lastly, the Irish freaking rub some gold off the Dome on campus before every home game, as is tradition for the last 900 years, melt it down and paint it onto their helmets the night before each game. In Jeff Samardzija, Matt Stoval, Anthony Fasano & Darius Walker, Tom Brady Quinn has 4 legitimate playmakers to get the ball to against a weaker then normal Trojan defense. Weis may be the one mind in college football who can outcoach Pete Carroll right now.Īdd to that the fact that Weis, who learned from Parcells & Belicheck, had a bye last week, and has had two weeks to prepare for the Trojans. Instead of showing him what the Trojans are capable of when they are on their game, he shows them where they are weak when they are off their game. When watching video over the last two weeks, Charlie Weis, the leprechaun himself, has only showed his players first half film of USC from their games this season. But the teams that USC ended up coming back against & beating weren't as well-off talent-wise as ND is, nor were they as well coached. USC has shown more then a few times this season that it can be beaten. ND's defense is bad, except against the run, where it has been surprisingly effecient all season long. USC's two RBs are both in the top 10 in the country in rushing for the season. Leinart has 12 TDs & 2 picks, Quinn has 13 TDs & 3 picks. Matt Leinart & Tom Brady Quinn have identical stats this season, with both passing for 1600 yards & 65%. What more fitting way then to lose that distinction then to be beaten by their biggest rival, in South Bend, with Touchdown Jesus watching over. USC has been the #1 team in the country for 25 straight weeks or something like that. The other minute, I know that's just false hope and that they're going to lose. One minute, I think the Irish actually have a chance to beat the #1 Trojans tomorrow. I didn't even get this excited about any of the Finals Games vs the Ducks, probably because by that point the Devils were the closest thing to a Dynasty hockey had seen since the Oilers, and I never took the Ducks seriously.īut anyway, the point is, I'm pumped for this game. The last being the Devils-Senators 2003 East Championship Game 7. In all my years, I can only think of maybe 7 or 8 games where I was anywhere near as excited for them as I am for tomorrow's game. I was trying to remember the last time I was this pumped up for a sports game. I don't care when they play, just so long as they play. "Weird, I'm a personal fan of Christmas."Īnyway, USC-ND is this weekend, because every few years, for whatever reason, these two teams play in the middle of October instead of in the last week of the season. Christmas has now merged with Fall AND Winter, to join with Spring & Summer as the three seasons of the year. Hell, we're only two weeks away from the start of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's winter tour, and the start of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, or whatever it's called now-a-days. It keeps getting pushed up more & more each year. I swear, Christmas is going to start on July 5th pretty soon. Wait, what? It's not Thanksgiving weekend? The movie theater was playing Christmas Carols yesterday.
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