What does the future hold for Jimmy Clausen?
Can you believe it's already been 20 months since he's thrown his last pass for the Irish?
Clausen left Notre Dame a year early and looked like he was a certain top 15 pick. But then he fell all the way to the second round being selected by the Carolina Panthers.
Most Irish fans were certain that Clausen would be a very good pro, or at the very least, a pretty decent one.
But after a terrible rookie season, and the Panthers taking Newton No. 1 overall, things aren't looking too peachy for Clausen at the moment.
Then comes this tidbit from Grantland.com about the NFL's least valuable players:
"Only five second-rounders since the merger have thrown as many attempts as Clausen did as a rookie. They were bad, but even the Tony Bankses and Charlie Batchs of the world didn’t throw three interceptions for every touchdown like Clausen did."
Ouch.
Clausen came in as the 13th least valuable player in the league.
I'm not really sure how I feel about Clausen or his future in the NFL.
I was usually one of the pro-Clausen guys while he was at Notre Dame who thought he played his ass off for the program. Then again, I'm not terribly emotionally invested in his success either.
I'm kind of tired talking about how bad Carolina was and how poor Clausen's supporting cast was around him, even if it is true. I think he'll likely end up getting another shot to start somewhere (and if his career at Notre Dame is any indication his interception numbers will go way down with more playing time and experience), but he has his work cut out for him.
We can talk about his lack of height, or an arm that isn't super strong, and his small hands...yet with all of Clausen's pedigree and tutoring as a quarterback since he was little, I definitely think there's something to the theory that he might have maxed out his potential back in South Bend.
*Staying on the topic of Grantland, Simmons & Co. came out with a feature on the best sports books of all-time.
Here at One Foot Down we don't shy away about talking about a good book, especially if it's one that involved sports. You'll even see book reviews every once in a while from us too.
Anyway, Grantland's top sports book of all-time are: "The Game" by Ken Dryden, "A Season on the Brink" by John Feinstein, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton, and "Veeck---as in Wreck" by Bill Veeck.
I haven't read any of those, except Dryden's "The Game."
Normally I would tell you to read it only if you're a fan of hockey like me, but Dryden's book is awfully impressive. Not only is he an incredible writer (even more so since he worked on it during a freaking season!), but the cast of characters in the form of his teammates is legendary.
And just because it needs to said, Dryden won 6 Stanley Cups over his short 8-year career.
He won 65% of his games in an era when ties were much more prevalent (74 ties), and almost had as many shutouts (46) as career losses (57).
Did I blow your mind?
Has anyone read the other books? I'll probably pick one up soon but there are others waiting in the queue.
*Our friends over at The Subway Domer are seriously stepping up their game with some awesome graphics at the top of a couple recent articles.
They should sell those in the Hammes Bookstore, right?
*PootND at Her Loyal Sons has busted out more graphs for his second part of 2 BCS or not 2 BCS.
Spoiler alert: The Notre Dame defense in 2010 was pretty good, but has a little bit more room for improvement to be one of the best.
*Two programming notes to whisper gently in your ear:
1.) Keith Arnold over at Inside the Irish is rolling out the Top 25 Notre Dame players list again, and that will begin this week. We'll be participating and giving our two cents on how the lists turn out.
2.) Tomorrow we'll be starting a five-part series in conjunction with the fine folks over at Maple Street Press. If you like knowledgeable football talk about Notre Dame, or better yet, if you like free stuff...stay tuned people.