View From Bennett Avenue

Speaking of second chances, Notre Dame has reinstated star wide receiver Michael Floyd after his spring arrest for drunk driving. Floyd had to meet a number of requirements before being allowed back and he is a good kid who has represented his school well before the incident.
Having grown up a Notre Dame fan, I did not expect Floyd back after his arrest. The school, or mainly the residence board, had been notoriously tough on anyone, football star or regular student, who screwed up in this manner. But they passed the responsibility of Floyd's punishment to football coach Brian Kelly, which is a departure from precedent.
But I am fine with his return, as the stringent rule of law in the past was too tough. Repeat offenders, like Stephen Garcia of south Carolina (see yesterday's post), would still be tossed but those like Floyd that have done plenty of good and proved over a four month period post-crime that they made the correct changes, would be allowed to return.
Notre Dame haters are all up in arms about a perceived hypocrisy. But Notre Dame does have tough standards, standards that make it more difficult to compete against schools who recruit non students, allow kids to make multiple transgressions with little or no penalty and do whatever it takes to win. For Notre Dame to still compete for national championships they have had to improve their facilities, create a training table, allow the coaching staff to recruit smart kids who are not perfect academically and give kids second chances. They still have some of the tougher standards in college football and routinely win awards for academic results. They are trying to win a national title with a group of students who will all graduate--that is their annual goal and they should be commended for it.
If the Irish tossed Floyd and lost a game because of it, these same haters would be the ones pointing the finger at Notre Dame for being irrelevant. With them the school was in a no win situation, so it is good that they did the right thing.

View From Bennett Avenue

With their season opener against Purdue nine days away, Notre Dame has come to an agreement with NBC concerning the length of commercial breaks for the games shown on NBC this fall. NBC will follow a model of five shorter commercial breaks per quarter instead of four longer ones. The agreement is significant for new Irish coach Brian Kelly, whose hurry-up offense would have been slightly less effective with its opponents' defense taking longer breaks.
For Notre Dame to return to prominence they need Kelly to succeed. For NBC to see its ratings improve they need Kelly to succeed. So the compromise, which is similar to an NFL model, was struck. While some may find the slightly shorter breaks insignificant, the Irish offense knows it needs every bit of tiredness on the part of the defense to approach the high levels enjoyed by Kelly's Cincinnati attack.