Football and basketball
Sampling of Columns of Note from the Past Week
In the sports brand-name pyramid, Notre Dame football is near the top, jostling for head space with the New York Yankees, Duke basketball and a few others.
So if you're a Notre Dame football player, you're not only a big man on campus in South Bend, Ind., you're a big man wherever you go.
Joey Hiben chose to downsize. He chose to walk away from football to concentrate on his education. You don't do that in our sports-crazed culture. A letter sweater always trumps a letter grade, right?
But Hiben, one of the most highly recruited tight ends in the country as a high school senior, chose school over football two months ago.
While the Irish played their spring game Saturday, he planned to be immersed in his architecture studies on Notre Dame's campus, partly out of a sense of duty but also out of a sense of self-preservation. He knew if he watched his former teammates, it would hurt.
"I miss football," Hiben said. "It was a part of my life for so long. I dream about it a lot. But you have to convince yourself it was the right decision. I know I would have had to give up architecture. I wish I could have been great at both architecture and football, had a great career.
"But I can't look back at "what if' because at this level you just can't go through two things and do them with half your efforts. I decided I didn't want to be mediocre, at best, at two things. It was time for me to concentrate on what I would be doing 40 years from now."
Hiben played in seven games last season for the Irish, mostly when the outcome was decided. But with "05 starter Anthony Fasano moving on to the NFL, he was in the mix for next season, and the tight end has a prominent role in coach Charlie Weis' offense.
There was promise. Hiben is 6 feet 4 inches, 248 pounds, and he's athletic - athletic enough to have won a Minnesota high school state title in the shot put and to have finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles.
But there also was promise as an architect. By the time he was 12, he already was interested in designing homes. This was a kid who would check out landscape architecture books from the library in his hometown of Chaska, Minn. His mother is a photographer, one of his sisters a painter. Art is part of his life.
By the time he enrolled as a freshman at Notre Dame last August, he already might have been considered a house divided. Then he saw the huge demands that both football and architecture would place on him.
"Sometimes we're asked to keep track of how many hours we spend on each project in our architecture classes," he said. "Lots of times it's 30 hours of studio time a week. That's not uncommon at all. That's very comparable with the time you put in for football. So it's two fulltime jobs plus being a student (in other classes).
"First semester was just an introductory architecture class. Because of football, I was probably able to spend one hour for every six hours every other student spent. I was kind of jealous that I would never be able to get this time to spend on my work and really develop as an architect."
He said he was getting four to five hours of sleep a night on weekdays during the football season just to keep a 3.2 grade-point average.
He wanted more. The problem, he said, is there wasn't room for more. In February, after back-and-forth discussions with Weis, he decided to quit the team.
Hiben said he had been under the impression he could pursue both his loves. He said that impression came from Weis, who had jumped from the New England Patriots to Notre Dame, his alma mater, in December 2004.
"Coach Weis thought he had all the answers for me," Hiben said. "It was just basically, "Don't worry, we'll be able to get you through architecture.' The reality of it was, you just can't make the time for architecture go away. I didn't like that.
"Maybe I should have thought about it more. Coming from the NFL, he didn't have to worry about that. Obviously, he was a student in the "70s. Things are very different in architecture and football from when he was a student.
"You can't just forget and switch majors. Some students really care about what they're majoring in."
Weis insists he did his homework, that he made it a priority to learn as much as he could about the academic demands of each major when he arrived on campus.
"I wish Joey Hiben luck, personally and professionally," he said. "But let me make it clear in no uncertain terms for the next person who comes along who wants to major in architecture and play football at Notre Dame: The marriage is one that can very safely and easily coexist. We've done a lot of research on this. Academically and athletically, an architecture major and a football player can be one and the same."
In the end, even though Weis said he was fully informed about the five-year architecture program, it's up to the athlete to do his own research about the rigors of a particular major. Hiben understands that now.
And in the end, Hiben said, it was his choice to leave the program. Nobody's else's. The only pressure to decide between football and architecture came from him. It was the right decision, a good decision, a noble decision.
It took guts to make that decision.
He was worried about the reaction from his parents, who knew he loved football. His full scholarship would disappear once the decision was made. Tuition and room and board at Notre Dame is now about $40,000 a year. How would you like to make that phone call home?
His parents understood.
"He hasn't let me down," said his father, Bob, who is chief financial officer for a golf equipment retailer. "I've always said, "As you go through life, choose what you want to do and give it everything."'
"If anything, I've inspired people because I've done what I truly need to do for the right reasons, for my well-being," Joey Hiben said. "I don't feel selfish for making this decision. I don't feel like I let anybody down. I'm the one who has to live this life."
He hopes to join Notre Dame's track team next season. The time demands on a shot putter are much less than on a football player. He will spend his third year studying in Rome, as all Notre Dame architecture majors do. He will be a normal college kid.
He encounters his former teammates on Notre Dame's campus and they seem happy for him, he said. But it's tough because he knows where they're going, and he can't go there with them.
Players come and go in college football. They graduate. They transfer. They get hurt. They flunk out. Few of them quit. Fewer of them quit Notre Dame's football team. This one did.
"All the time and sacrifice you go through for football is so much, but it's so worth it," Hiben said. "I experienced that through being able to run through the tunnel. It was such a great thing, but it's not worth getting in the way of your plans as a person. I think the reason you go to college is to get a degree, not just to play football."
Athletic department restricts outside media
Subscribers to Notre Dame recruiting Web sites used to enjoy the privilege of downloading unabridged, 60-minute press conferences with Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis. But as spring football practices begin today, an hour with Weis has become "Three Minutes with Charlie."
IrishIllustrated.com, a member of the Rivals.com recruiting network, is calling video highlights from press conferences just that, as Web sites are now packaging highlights of Weis' press conferences into condensed versions for viewers after the University announced new restrictions for media covering Notre Dame sports.
Notre Dame assistant athletic director John Heisler called the policy change part of a larger plan to increase the quality and traffic of Notre Dame's official athletics Web site.
But Jack Freeman, publisher of IrishIllustrated.com, saw the policy change differently.
"Their issue is that ... Irish Illustrated is making money by showing this, and [Notre Dame] wants to make money by showing this, too," Freeman said.
On both IrishIllustrated.com and IrishEyes.com, a member of the Scout.com recruiting network, most videos are limited to only those users who pay a monthly or annual fee.
Subscribers to both IrishIllustrated.com and IrishEyes.com pay $99.95 a year or $9.95 a month. Freeman said the athletic department was trying to direct traffic away from his and other Web sites toward the official Notre Dame site (und.com), which offers viewers an "All-Access Pass" for $6.95 a month that allows subscribers live streaming video and audio of Notre Dame sporting events.
At issue specifically is the emergence of recruiting Web sites that record entire press conferences and offer them to subscribers on the Internet, Heisler said. Now, those same sites will be limited to three minutes of "highlights" of all Notre Dame athletics press conferences, including Weis' press conferences that occur three times per week during football season.
Heisler said the move was less about public relations in regard to potential recruits and the recruiting sites and more about the University's rights to the press conferences.
"I'm not sure we think that people should just be able to come in and copy and essentially duplicate any sort of a press conference and just throw it up [on the Internet]," Heisler said. "There ought to be some journalism involved here."
The athletic department released notice to media Jan. 31 - prior to national signing day - that there would be new restrictions on the ability of recruiting Web sites and traditional media outlets to reproduce videos and transcripts of Irish press conferences. Tuesday's annual spring football media day was the first major press event since national signing day.
"Any media entity collecting any sort of video or audio materials … from University of Notre Dame Athletics press conference events may use that material only within a seven-day period following the event … with a limitation of up to three minutes in length from any single event," the Jan. 31 statement said.
Response
The statement sparked criticism and concern among members of the Internet media who cover the press conferences, who feel their subscribers will miss out on important and relevant information.
"We're disappointed that they're not allowing all their fans to watch [the press conferences] on our site," said Freeman, whose site began uploading Weis' press conferences in 2005. "The second thing is, it sort of strikes me as a bad PR move on Notre Dame's part because they're limiting putting out one of their greatest spokesman, Charlie Weis, in front of recruits and fans on our site."
But if the video is available on und.com, as Heisler said may happen, Notre Dame will be able to profit from the video as well as offering it to Irish fans.
Heisler said the University likely will not enforce the seven-day rule, but it specifically wants to apply the rules governing the broadcast rights television stations withhold to Notre Dame press conferences.
"Our feeling is in the same sense NBC has some rights to our football games in the video end, I don't know if that's any different for a thing like a press conference," Heisler said. "That's kind of a Notre Dame event; it's a Notre Dame athletic event. … There may be some rights issues in these things that nobody ever really thought of before."
He said full video of one-on-one interviews with players and coaches are exempt from the new limitations.
Mike Frank, who runs IrishEyes.com, the first site to offer video downloads of press conferences in 2004, said he understands where the University is coming from, as press conference clips have become a staple in sports journalism and on recruiting Web sites.
"I think like everybody, you're a little disappointed; but at the same time, I fully understand why they did it," Frank said. "I tend to agree with him [on extending the principle of the 3-minute rule to the press conferences].
Freeman saw the issue differently.
"Prior to this change in policy, they were selling access to … sporting events," Freeman said, referring to the "All Access Pass" on und.com that allows subscribers to watch live streams of Irish sports games in conjunction with College Sports Television Network. "Now they're taking a press conference to essentially a news gathering event. And I think that's what the problem is. … I think on one hand limiting access to a sporting event is fine obviously once the policy is in place, but a news event or a press conference, I can't agree with applying the same logic."
Heisler said the athletic department focused on the competition between und.com and other Web sites when making the decision
"With these other events, there's a commodity of some sort," Heisler said. "We're running a Web site as well, so we would like to drive traffic there. Our feeling is, particularly in terms of a press conference, … everybody is welcome to cover it, but if you want to see the full-blown transcription or if you want to watch the whole thing, then our site ought to be the place to find that."
Frank said the athletic department is probably implementing a policy that many schools eventually will.
"Notre Dame is probably just thinking ahead of the curve on this, and pretty soon you're going to see [most other colleges] doing something very, very similar - because [press conference video] is a product, and it's a good product."
Precedence
Heisler said he did not know of other schools that had a similar policy but figured many would follow suit.
Kenny Mossman, associate athletic director for communications at Oklahoma, said that his department has limited what recruiting Web sites can and cannot reproduce from press conferences for over a year.
"Like Notre Dame, we need to protect our media rights," he said in a telephone interview with The Observer. "I think you have to stay ahead of the curve."
Unlike Notre Dame and several other schools, however, Mossman said Oklahoma does not view recruiting Web sites in the same light as traditional print, television and radio media.
Justin Dougherty, director of sports information at the University of Wisconsin said Wisconsin classifies the recruiting Web sites in the same category as newspapers and television stations.
"Those organizations cover our football programs on a regular basis, they cover our home games, travel [to away games], and interview our players," Dougherty said. "I view them as a legitimate media outlet in that regard."
Dougherty said no television stations or Web sites have attempted to record and distribute entire press conferences, but he expects that might change in the future.
"It hasn't been an issue here," he said. "The conversation hasn't even taken place."
Wisconsin's situation is similar to that of Boston College. Chris Cameron, associate athletics director for media relations at Boston College, said the issue has not arisen there either and that his staff has not discussed the possible ramifications of Web sites redistributing entire press conferences.
"The Internet has created both new opportunities and challenges for everyone in intercollegiate athletics," Cameron said in an e-mail. "I'm sure the Notre Dame staff has been challenged more than most. We all must re-evaluate our priorities and policies from time to time. The ND staff has to do what they feel is in the best interest of the program."
At Southern California, the athletic department has not had to deal with recruiting Web sites recording video of press conferences, but sports information director Tim Tessalone said the school has a general policy in place.
"With the institutional Web sites and premium services, a lot of the content that goes up there is press conference [material]," Tessalone said.
Whereas Notre Dame's new policy prohibits re-broadcasting but allows for live feeds with the written consent of the athletic department, Tessalone said USC might ban both. He said Southern California often has small portions of football press conferences broadcast live on channels run by ESPN, but the issue of full broadcasts has not arisen.
"If someone wanted to do the whole press conference live, I think we would have an issue with that," he said. "That's why we put it up on our Web site on a live stream."
Freeman said he worries that Notre Dame's policy may become the standard across the NCAA.
"I think if Notre Dame is successful in generating revenues from this, people will jump on it," he said.
Tessalone did not say if Notre Dame's case would be used as a precedent, but he did predict other universities to institute similar policies.
"What Notre Dame is doing makes perfect sense," he said. "What Notre Dame is doing is what I expect a lot of places to do in the future.
Decision-making process
Freeman said he agreed and worried that other schools will follow suit because of his doubts about the legal logic behind the policy change.
Heisler said the athletic department did not consult with University lawyers specifically about this issue but based its decision on past discussions between colleges and the legal field over the issue of protected content.
"There's an awful lot of people who are more experts from the legal end and the rights end that are sort of telling institutions that historically we haven't done a good enough job at protecting our own rights to certain things," he said.
Heisler said Notre Dame has worked mainly with Collegiate Images, a Florida-based company whose objective is to become a clearinghouse of photographs and video from collegiate athletic events, in regard to issues of legality and rights.
"They have helped us extensively as far as some of the language [we use] to make it clear what ability you have to use material that you obtain at a game," Heisler said. "We wrote it, and we ran it past them just to ask for some advice. It was more a matter of just trying to set the table and figure out how we can work this out."
Going forward
For IrishEyes.com, Frank said the policy changes have had no adverse effect on his relationship with the athletic department.
"I like to think I have a good relationship with Notre Dame," he said. "On my end, as far as my thoughts are on it, yeah, I think we have an excellent relationship."
Frank said he will continue to produce full video of player interviews and clips from spring practices, as well as abridged versions of the press conferences.
"I don't think it's every opportunity for us that's being taken away; it's mainly just those press conferences," he said. "We'll also be able to videotape our interviews we have with players, and so as long as we are able to do some of those things, I think that's a good thing."
Heisler said those videos are not being restricted because the athletic department was mainly concerned with the unabridged nature of the press conference videos.
"I think we're looking at mostly the large settings, especially with Charlie Weis," Heisler said. "Those are the things we were seeing pop up in their entirety.
"These guys who are doing a one-on-one interview with somebody, we're not worried about that. That's their own enterprise."
Though he disagrees with the policy, Freeman said IrishIllustrated.com will continue to work in good spirit with the athletic department.
"We've expressed concerns, and we understand the policy," Freeman said. "We fully intend, of course to go along with those policies."
Brezovsky's Blast Lifts Irish To Ninth Straight Win, 6-4 Over Ball State
Matt Bransfield doubled in the tying run and scored moments later on Ross Brezovsky's home run, as the Notre Dame baseball team matched Ball State's seventh-inning production to surge back ahead en route to its ninth straight victory, 6-4, in Wednesday's latest installment of the ND-BSU rivalry at Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (19-8) - now 17-3 in its past 20 games - wrapped up an unbeaten seven-game homestand while winning yet another close game in a series that recently has featured four one-run games and Wednesday's two-run margin in the past seven meetings between the Irish and the Cardinals. Ball State (15-12) remains one of a handful of teams to own a winning record (now 4-3) versus Notre Dame at Eck Stadium but the Irish now have won three of the past four matchups.
For the third time in five solid starts this season, sophomore lefthander Wade Korpi failed to pick up the win despite departing the game with a 3-1 lead in the sixth. The visitors moved into the lead one inning later, only to see the Irish stage the decisive rally with Bransfield and Brezovsky's clutch two-out hits.
Korpi struck out eight BSU batters - pushing his season total to 44 in 32 innings (12.4 Ks per 9 IP) - while allowing three hits and three walks in 5.2 innings. Junior lefthander Mike Dury (2-0) was the third of four Irish relievers and retired five of the six batters he faced, one via strikeout, while improving to 5-0 in his Irish career. Dury took the mound with two outs and two runners on base in the top of the seventh, inducing a rightside popup off the bat of Kyle Dygert to keep the deficit at 4-3.
Kyle Weiland came on to retire the final two batters of the game, marking the eighth time in eight opportunities that the freshman righthander has converted his save opportunity. Weiland's eight saves already are just one shy of the Notre Dame freshman record (9), set by Aaron Heilman in 1998 (when he led the nation with a 1.31 ERA). The eight saves also rank seventh on the Notre Dame single-season list, five back of J.P. Gagne's team record set in 2003.
Danny Dressman's one-out, full-count walk started Notre Dame's decisive scoring sequence in the seventh. A Jeremy Barnes groundout put the runner in scoring position for Bransfield and the senior leftfielder responded by driving a 2-0 pitch from senior lefthander Kory Bucklew (3-1), with the ball kicking off the wall in left-center for the RBI double and a 4-4 game.
The lefthanded-hitting Brezovsky - who has batted at a higher clip versus southpaws than RHPs in each of the past two seasons - then looked at three straight pitches, putting him behind in the count 1-2. But the sophomore second baseman was sitting back on the next pitch and connected on the breaking ball, launching the ball over the rightfield fence for his second home run of the season and fourth of his young Irish career.
Ball State had snatched the lead moments earlier, sparked by a Justin Rogers single versus sophomore righthander Joey Williamson, a hit batter and a sacrifice bunt. Leadoff batter Mike Sullivan then dropped the next pitch into center field for a two-run single and a tie game (3-3). Sullivan stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position and Matt Singleton ripped a 2-2 pitch that hit off Williamson and kicked to the right side of the infield. Brezovsky tracked down the ball but lost track of Sullivan, who continued on to home plate and beat the throw for a 4-3 BSU lead.
A rare play happened seconds later, as catcher Sean Gaston attempted a throw down to second. Sullivan still was celebrating the run in the home-plate area and ultimately was called for interference, after impeding the Gaston throw that bounced off the mound and appeared to let Singleton move to second. Instead, the interference call caused Singleton to be erased from the bases as the second out (by rule, a putout to the first baseman). Brad Miller followed with a single, as did C.J. Webb versus junior righthander Jess Stewart - but Dury kept things close by forcing Dygert into the popup.
Notre Dame - which drove home five of its six runs with 2-outs on the board - had claimed a 2-0 lead courtesy of an early two-run triple for the second straight game (Brezvosky brought home two runs with a first-inning triple vs. Chicago State). This time it was senior shortstop Greg Lopez with the three-bagger, working ahead in the count versus freshman lefty Ryan Schmidt before going the other way down the rightfield line. It was just the second triple of Lopez's four-year career at Notre Dame, spanning 197 games played and 627 at-bats.
Alex Nettey's four-pitch walk and Brett Lilley's opposite-field single to left-center (on a first pitch) set the table for Lopez's big two-out hit.
Notre Dame stretched to a 3-0 cushion in the fifth, versus sophomore righthander Tyler Pritchard. Leadoff batter Craig Copper singled up the middle and motored all the way home two batters later when Jeremy Barnes parked a 1-0 pitch into the right-center gap for the RBI double.
Ball State scored its first run in the next inning, after Sullivan's leadoff walk and stolen base and Webb's two-out single down the rightfield line.
visited *loading* times