Ahhh... Irish fans. God bless you. The whole situation about Pat Haden leaving his cushy gig at NBC with the Ice Princess's to head out to Southern California to take on the role of babysitter for Kiffincakes- well it is fantastic timing. You would have thought that the world was going super bananas a few years early (2012) by the sheer number of tweets and comments on message boards around the web. This story is proving, once again, that July is the absolute worst month for sports.

I understand that it is, by itself, still a big story- but coupled with the other NCAA stuff and U$C it is quite a bit bigger. From an Irish fans perspective, the story's importance lay not with Haden's future impact with U$C (even though it probably should be) but with the now hole inside the announcing booth for the Notre Dame games on NBC.

A long list of names has come up to replace Haden from all over the country by journalists, bloggers, and regular fans. What most of these lists have in common is that they have a long list of possibilities and they include the following 4 things:

• Non-threatening
• Impossible
• ND ties
• Fictional

Why fictional? Because we as Irish fans have lost hope in a decent crew from NBC in the booth a long, long time ago. They kept sending us Tom Hammond, like some sort of sick joke. NBC may be called, "Notre Dame's network" but they offer us very little in terms of production value. As a way to not get too excited over the prospect of hiring a good broadcast crew, fans have thrown out the names of Conan O'Brian, Bette Midler, and others. I myself have put Popeye, Chewbacca, and Jay & Silent Bob on my own personal lists of hopefuls.

Pat Haden was another slap in the face. I understand the use of a color commentator that was not a ND homer, but to place a former U$C quarterback in the booth is just fucking wrong in so many ways. Just imagine the outcry in Buckeye land if EVERY home game had Brian Griese or Desmond Howard in the booth as the color guy. There would be massive fucking riots all over Columbus and quite possibly- the state of Ohio.

Quite honestly though, Haden was terrible. He was just boring and irritating at times. Tom Hammond on the other hand- OMG I want to break shit. That is why the departure of Haden is being met with such praise and love by Irish fans- we want Hammond out too and we wanted that more.

What better way to help kill off the demons of the past 15 years than to start fresh with an all new duo inside the booth (Alex Flanagan can stay for obvious reasons) to go along with a new coaching staff, and hopefully a new future. NBC is sitting on some very good talent with NBC contracts, RIGHT NOW!!!

Aside from the obvious choice in Bob Costas, there is another voice, piece of hair, and midwestern talent available: Dan Patrick. Patrick was a self-professed Subway Alumnus of Notre Dame, and would add more credibility and a more entertaining product than anyone else NBC has- outside of Bob Costas.

As far as the color commentary position is concerned, there is one individual that I would really like to see in the booth, but he isn't on NBC's payroll... yet. Trev Alberts. Before you call me crazy, just know that I respected the way Trev didn't bow down to ESPN and play the acting game that they were asking him to do (think, Mark May) and quit. He knows the game, and I'm tired of these fucking quarterbacks in the booth. Bring me a linebacker.

Until then, I am afraid we are still one man down and one Ice Princess on the board for 2010. Just the way he likes it...MMMMUUUAAAAHHHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAAA!!!!! MMMMUUUUUAAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAHHHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

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