greyhammer90
the drunk piano player
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BK Spring Ball Opening Presser Notes
- Thread starter Ironman8
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dshans
They call me The Dribbler
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I refuse to submit to the notion that the use of italics is the only road to sarcasm ...
Puns are a beautiful thing, even when considered ugly by the effete "educated" snobs who lack a free-wheeling sense of humor.
I may be a step or two behind the times but I do "get it."
That I pretend not to do so is part of my comic genius.
greyhammer90
the drunk piano player
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If you act like an uptight grammar Nazi everyday, people won't understand you're being sarcastic when you act like an uptight grammar Nazi.
Irish YJ
Southsida
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If you act like an uptight grammar Nazi everyday, people won't understand you're being sarcastic when you act like an uptight grammar Nazi.
dshans
They call me The Dribbler
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Were I a true Grammar Nazi every day I'd have been tried and hanged for crimes against humanity (or swallowed a cyanide pill to avoid the rope) long ago.
I don't comment on grammar or spelling day in and day out or on every post. To do so would require too much of my attention, care and general "pissiness." I pick my "targets" for proprietary reasons.
I like to think that presenting a "best foot forward" on a Notre Dame board is a good thing. I assume, as do others, that potential student-athletes and their parents visit this forum. My feeble attempts at humorous grammatical "shots" are nothing compared to what (I hope) enrollees will face at ND in their Freshman Year of Studies classes. Think of me as the graduate assistant who red-lines your essay/paper/thesis ruthlessly. Only with patience,understanding and a sense of the world without all the pressures.
dshans
They call me The Dribbler
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greyhammer90
the drunk piano player
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I was under the impression that this page was all very serious.
dshans
They call me The Dribbler
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Apparently not.
Whimsy happens.
JohnnyKillz vacations.
Bambi is missed.
I don't know sh¡t.
Is this Haiku material?
Spring is here ... just not in Minnesota.
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Bogtrotter07
Guest
If you act like an uptight grammar Nazi everyday, people won't understand you're being sarcastic when you act like an uptight grammar Nazi.
That is true Grey, because the average poster on this site would have to rely on his own intelligence and original wit to determine that . . .
"Stop me; I'm smokin'!"
Walter White
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Cackalacky
Guest
thanks hammer. Now I am completely unproductive at work today....I will be making these all day.
kmoose
Banned
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Cackalacky
Guest
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Cackalacky
Guest
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Cackalacky
Guest
I think it was BGIF who told me about Vinny Cerrato's last class was in 1993. It started there in 1991 as the article states admissions became stringent. Recruiting was never the same. Maybe BGIF could clarify it better.
This is a good read:
ESPN.com - RECRUITING - Cerrato has the winning edge
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Holy crap. Where is Cerrato today, and how much money can we throw at him to come back?
I've never heard it put in such blunt terms. If true, then Malloy's decision to kill the football program was very direct.
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Cackalacky
Guest
If I am not mistaken, the NCAA instituted rules to combat Cerrato's tactics which Holtz referred to as the "Cerrato Rule." After what BGIF told me I looked further into his part of the program. I don't think anything like it will ever happen again. My favorite player, Jeff Burris, was one of those recruited by him.
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Bogtrotter07
Guest
It got pretty blunt.
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Cackalacky
Guest
Imagine the outrage today....
Imagine the outrage today....
"When he Phones, Prospects Listen"
By Bob Greene
Chicago Tribune, January 15, 1990
Vinny Cerrato, the recruiting director on Notre Dame's football coaching staff, should be able to find a good job in the world of business if he ever tires of sports. He has already proven that he is a born supersalesman.
What Cerrato did at the Orange Bowl game was the stuff of sales genius. It had nothing do do with football strategy; other coaches called the plays against Colorado.
Cerrato, 30, stood on the sidelines with a cellular phone and a list of 35 high school seniors. Actually, he had two phones - a spare, and a pocketful of extra batteries. The 35 high school seniors on his list were football players in whom Notre Dame was interested, and who had either visited the campus or had been visited by Cerrato.
When the game started - remember, this was potentially for the national championship, and was telecast in prime time - Cerrato started calling the high school athletes.
"They were all watching the game," Cerrato said. "I knew they would be. So I called their houses all over the country, and I said: 'This is Vinny Cerrato from Notre Dame. I'm on the sidelines at the Orange Bowl. You watching?' And then I'd tell them what the next play was going to be."
That's correct - Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz sends in each offensive play, and Cerrato made a point of finding out what the play was going to be. He knew how effective this would be over the phone.
"The high school kids could hear all the crowd noise, and they could hear our players hollering," Cerrato said. "I'd say: 'I'm on the 35-yard line. I've got the play for you. We're going to run a 34.' A 34 is a handoff to the fullback over the right side. I'd say to the high school kids, 'Watch the fullback.' And while I was on the phone, the fullback would run that play."
Cerrato first tried this cellular phone technique a year ago, at the Fiesta Bowl. "But it didn't work," he said. "I didn't have my own phone, so I borrowed one from the hotel, and it broke after only three calls. This year my phones worked perfectly. I was making calls from a few moments before the opening kickoff until the final gun."
Occasionally Cerrato would put one of the Notre Dame players on the phone. "They just said hello real quickly, but you can imagine how it made the high school guys feel," Cerrato said.
Perhaps Cerrato's finest moment came when he was talking on the phone to an extremely talented high school prospect, and Notre Dame speedster Rocket Ismail saw what he was doing.
According to Cerrato, "Rocket asked me who I was talking to, and when I told Rocket he said, 'Tell him if I give the thumbs-up sign when I'm in my stance, that means I'm going deep.' That's got to be pretty impressive to a high school football player - a message like that from Rocket Ismail in the middle of the Orange Bowl game."
Because Cerrato felt that the phone calls would be most effective if they came totally by surprise, some of the high school players weren't home when he called. "They were over at their buddies' houses watching the game," Cerrato said. "So I got their buddies' numbers from the parents of the players, and I called their buddies' houses. In a way that was even better - their friends could get on the phone and listen, too."
One high school player talked to Cerrato and said, "I can't see you. Stand behind Coach Holtz." So Cerrato did just that - he and his cellular phone moved behind Holtz.
"The kid started laughing," Cerrato said. "He was watching his TV, and he said: 'There you are! There you are!' "
According to Cerrato, all of this is well within college football recruiting rules. There are limits on how many times representatives of a college can visit a high school player's house, and how many times the player can visit the campus. But, Cerrato said, there are no limits on phone calls to the player - even calls via cellular phone from the sidelines of the Orange Bowl.
Back in the days when Knute Rockne was coaching at Notre Dame, he had to depend on other methods to persuade high school stars to enroll. Vinny Cerrato would never compare himself to Rockne, but he seems to have taken recruiting into a new era. His best line - repeated to more than one high school player after especially good Notre Dame plays - is a hard one to beat.
With the roar of the crowd in the background, Cerrato would say: "Just look at this. This could be you next year.
Imagine the outrage today....
"When he Phones, Prospects Listen"
By Bob Greene
Chicago Tribune, January 15, 1990
Vinny Cerrato, the recruiting director on Notre Dame's football coaching staff, should be able to find a good job in the world of business if he ever tires of sports. He has already proven that he is a born supersalesman.
What Cerrato did at the Orange Bowl game was the stuff of sales genius. It had nothing do do with football strategy; other coaches called the plays against Colorado.
Cerrato, 30, stood on the sidelines with a cellular phone and a list of 35 high school seniors. Actually, he had two phones - a spare, and a pocketful of extra batteries. The 35 high school seniors on his list were football players in whom Notre Dame was interested, and who had either visited the campus or had been visited by Cerrato.
When the game started - remember, this was potentially for the national championship, and was telecast in prime time - Cerrato started calling the high school athletes.
"They were all watching the game," Cerrato said. "I knew they would be. So I called their houses all over the country, and I said: 'This is Vinny Cerrato from Notre Dame. I'm on the sidelines at the Orange Bowl. You watching?' And then I'd tell them what the next play was going to be."
That's correct - Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz sends in each offensive play, and Cerrato made a point of finding out what the play was going to be. He knew how effective this would be over the phone.
"The high school kids could hear all the crowd noise, and they could hear our players hollering," Cerrato said. "I'd say: 'I'm on the 35-yard line. I've got the play for you. We're going to run a 34.' A 34 is a handoff to the fullback over the right side. I'd say to the high school kids, 'Watch the fullback.' And while I was on the phone, the fullback would run that play."
Cerrato first tried this cellular phone technique a year ago, at the Fiesta Bowl. "But it didn't work," he said. "I didn't have my own phone, so I borrowed one from the hotel, and it broke after only three calls. This year my phones worked perfectly. I was making calls from a few moments before the opening kickoff until the final gun."
Occasionally Cerrato would put one of the Notre Dame players on the phone. "They just said hello real quickly, but you can imagine how it made the high school guys feel," Cerrato said.
Perhaps Cerrato's finest moment came when he was talking on the phone to an extremely talented high school prospect, and Notre Dame speedster Rocket Ismail saw what he was doing.
According to Cerrato, "Rocket asked me who I was talking to, and when I told Rocket he said, 'Tell him if I give the thumbs-up sign when I'm in my stance, that means I'm going deep.' That's got to be pretty impressive to a high school football player - a message like that from Rocket Ismail in the middle of the Orange Bowl game."
Because Cerrato felt that the phone calls would be most effective if they came totally by surprise, some of the high school players weren't home when he called. "They were over at their buddies' houses watching the game," Cerrato said. "So I got their buddies' numbers from the parents of the players, and I called their buddies' houses. In a way that was even better - their friends could get on the phone and listen, too."
One high school player talked to Cerrato and said, "I can't see you. Stand behind Coach Holtz." So Cerrato did just that - he and his cellular phone moved behind Holtz.
"The kid started laughing," Cerrato said. "He was watching his TV, and he said: 'There you are! There you are!' "
According to Cerrato, all of this is well within college football recruiting rules. There are limits on how many times representatives of a college can visit a high school player's house, and how many times the player can visit the campus. But, Cerrato said, there are no limits on phone calls to the player - even calls via cellular phone from the sidelines of the Orange Bowl.
Back in the days when Knute Rockne was coaching at Notre Dame, he had to depend on other methods to persuade high school stars to enroll. Vinny Cerrato would never compare himself to Rockne, but he seems to have taken recruiting into a new era. His best line - repeated to more than one high school player after especially good Notre Dame plays - is a hard one to beat.
With the roar of the crowd in the background, Cerrato would say: "Just look at this. This could be you next year.
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Bogtrotter07
Guest
On a bit of a different note: Adaptation illustration - This years coaching invitees to Kelly's camp; Belichick, Lewis, and Trestman!
ulukinatme
Carr for QB 2025!
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Did some brief research, looks like he hosts a sports radio program now in Maryland. Before that he was GM for the Redskins. Before the Redskins he was Director of College Scouting and later Director of Player Personnel for the 49ers in '91. While with the 49ers they won a Super Bowl and he helped draft Dana Stubblefield, Ted Washington, and former ND greats Ricky Watters and Bryant Young whom he also recruited at Notre Dame.
Redbar
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This is correct.
tadman95
I have a bigger bullet
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I believe Cerrato's success as a dedicated Recruiting Coordinator was a primary reason for the NCAA eliminating the position and making schools use an assistant with coaching responsibilities.
I assume that many schools couldn't afford to have a position like that, and I would bet some schools just wanted to weaken Cerrato's influence. The administration cracking down also led to his leaving Notre Dame.
I assume that many schools couldn't afford to have a position like that, and I would bet some schools just wanted to weaken Cerrato's influence. The administration cracking down also led to his leaving Notre Dame.
Redbar
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If I recall correctly Vinny did something with the kickers as well. He was not the special teams coordinator but he supposedly helped with the kickers.