2026 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Leonardfan said:
Mike Hass was the last straw for me.
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Mike Hass was what convinced me of the Caste System and caused me to join the forum. Had a roommate at the time who was a member of the board. He knew I was a big football fan and asked me who the best player in college was last year (this was before the draft). I answered Calvin Johnson, as he was being hyped to be the generational talented getting picked top 5. I was shocked to learn the award winning player for the position was a White athlete I had never even heard of. How Hass was subsequently treated in his brief NFL career made me steadfast in my view that joining CF was the right and necessary thing to do.
 
Freethinker said:
Mike Hass was what convinced me of the Caste System and caused me to join the forum. Had a roommate at the time who was a member of the board. He knew I was a big football fan and asked me who the best player in college was last year (this was before the draft). I answered Calvin Johnson, as he was being hyped to be the generational talented getting picked top 5. I was shocked to learn the award winning player for the position was a White athlete I had never even heard of. How Hass was subsequently treated in his brief NFL career made me steadfast in my view that joining CF was the right and necessary thing to do.
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I discovered Hass by accident via NCAA Football 2004 on Playstation 2 back in college. It was my usual practice to go through the rosters to find White outliers and whatever team had and play as that team. This was at the time I also started watching college football alot more often so I did seek out some PAC 12 games during the Hass era and became a fan pretty much instantly.

This is anecdotal but it's interesting that even 20 years ago their were a small number of White outliers allowed - guys like Hass, Samardzija, Brian Leonard, Zbikowski , AJ Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, David Pollack. All were pretty big names in college football and elite players but really no progress has been made. Fast forward to present day and again we see perceived outliers in the sport but the caste hive mind remains firmly entrenched and in control.
 
I remember it like yesterday.... what a Star Smaradjza was.... i thought that the DWFs cannot see this and not think something is wrong. I was mistaken. That ND Team was the best thing on TV in those years.
Time flies.
 
Don Wassall said:
Apparently I'm the only one here who remembers the great Jeff Samardzija. I had thought that mentioning what a truly dominant receiver he was for Notre Dame and posting highlights would cause a number of posters to reminisce or at least comment about a receiver whose objective comparison was the all-time great Calvin Johnson even if they were too young to remember him, and you'd have to be under 30 not to remember him. Disappointing and sad.
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As I posted in the Matt Szczur thread 16 years ago, I thought Samardzija made a mistake going the baseball route. I can understand why he would do that (money, future health concerns, ect.), but he really did pick, by far, his 2nd best sport.

After struggling mightily in the bush leagues for a while, Samardzija had some very good MLB seasons in the latter part of his 20's. But by the time his MLB career concluded, he was just another decent pitcher that made a ton of money and had some big moments, but mostly on bad or mediocre teams. 80 wins/106 loses and 4.15 career E.R.A.

Looking back, what NFL receiver might the Shark have been most like during his era? Talent wise, draft slotting, ect? I would go with Jordy Nelson. In other words, if Jeff went to the NFL, barring injury, I believe he would've been similar to Nelson. Below I will compare and contrast what actually did happen:


Financially: No contest here, Samardzija smokes Nelson:

Jeff Samardzija finished his 14-year MLB career with approximately $109 million to $122 million in total career baseball earnings

Jordy Nelson earned approximately $54–$57 million in total career earnings during his 11 seasons in the NFL


Lasting impact on the Sport? Best way to measure this might be a teen opening up a pack of Topps cards?

If a kid in the 2010's got this Jordy Nelson card, in an way too expensive pack, he gets super excited, tells his friends and protects it in a plastic sleeve, hoping one day it might be worth something.

If a kid (or adult) got this Jeff Samardzija card he keeps shuffling the pack, hoping for a deGrom, Kershaw, Strasburg or Verlander. Eventually drops it in a shoe box, with the other "commons".

Future reunions/Old Timer events:

Jordy Nelson will forever be remembered in Green Bay and Wisconsin for being a top Packer that helped lead the team to a Super Bowl. Broke a long drought with that 2010 title. He'll very likely be beloved and wildly popular for a very long time in Green Bay.

Jeff Samardzija grew up in Indiana as a huge Cubs fans. But his agent played hard-ball with the Cubs, rejected a five-year, $85 million extension and was exiled to Oakland in 2014. The Shark's career began to drift downward, just as the Cubs rose quickly and won a historic World Series in 2016. Shark had a chance to bask in the glory of that 2016 team for the rest of life. Instead he took the money and mostly just floated around on some declining Nor-Cal teams.

Conclusion: Shark got the fortune; Jordy got the fame. Actually, I always contended, had Jordy signed with New Orleans, instead of a struggling, lameduck Oakland team (both really wanted him), he could've posted a couple more 1,000 yard seasons with Drew Brees and been Hall of Fame bound.
 
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Truthteller said:
As I posted in the Matt Szczur thread 16 years ago, I thought Samardzija made a mistake going the baseball route. I can understand why he would do that (money, future health concerns, ect.), but he really did pick, by far, his 2nd best sport.

After struggling mightily in the bush leagues for a while, Samardzija had some very good MLB seasons in the latter part of his 20's. But by the time his MLB career concluded, he was just another decent pitcher that made a ton of money and had some big moments, but mostly on bad or mediocre teams. 80 wins/106 loses and 4.15 career E.R.A.

Looking back, what NFL receiver might the Shark have been most like during his era? Talent wise, draft slotting, ect? I would go with Jordy Nelson. In other words, if Jeff went to the NFL, barring injury, I believe he would've been similar to Nelson. Below I will compare and contrast what actually did happen:


Financially: No contest here, Samardzija smokes Nelson:

Jeff Samardzija finished his 14-year MLB career with approximately $109 million to $122 million in total career baseball earnings

Jordy Nelson earned approximately $54–$57 million in total career earnings during his 11 seasons in the NFL


Lasting impact on the Sport? Best way to measure this might be a teen opening up a pack of Topps cards?

If a kid in the 2010's got this Jordy Nelson card, in an way too expensive pack, he gets super excited, tells his friends and protects it in a plastic sleeve, hoping one day it might be worth something.

If a kid (or adult) got this Jeff Samardzija card he keeps shuffling the pack, hoping for a deGrom, Kershaw, Strasburg or Verlander. Eventually drops it in a shoe box, with the other "commons".

Future reunions/Old Timer events:

Jordy Nelson will forever be remembered in Green Bay and Wisconsin for being a top Packer that helped lead the team to a Super Bowl. Broke a long drought with that 2010 title. He'll very likely be beloved and wildly popular for a very long time in Green Bay.

Jeff Samardzija grew up in Indiana as a huge Cubs fans. But his agent played hard-ball with the Cubs, rejected a five-year, $85 million extension and was exiled to Oakland in 2014. The Shark's career began to drift downward, just as the Cubs rose quickly and won a historic World Series in 2016. Shark had a chance to bask in the glory of that 2016 team for the rest of life. Instead he took the money and mostly just floated around on some declining Nor-Cal teams.

Conclusion: Shark got the fortune; Jordy got the fame. Actually, I always contended, had Jordy signed with New Orleans, instead of a struggling, lameduck Oakland team (both really wanted him), he could've posted a couple more 1,000 yard seasons with Drew Brees and been Hall of Fame bound.
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Jordy Nelson followed a pattern several others have done over the years. Instead of signing with a team that would give them better playing opportunities, they sign for "more money." They would have made still more with a team they could have put up more numbers with.
 
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